The New Weapon That Could Make Military Drones Even More Lethal

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The Pentagon’s killer drones are already fearsome weapons – unmanned aerial machines that can come out of nowhere to attack an enemy compound or destroy an SUV transporting terrorists. And with the addition of a new weapon currently undergoing testing, those drones could become even more lethal in the near future.

At a military industry conference in Florida this week, Textron showcased the Fury, a “lightweight, precision-guided glide munition” that the website Jane’s 360 says is 27 inches long and 3 inches in diameter.

Its size and weight of about 13 pounds means that a half-dozen Furys can be mounted on a medium-altitude UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) such as Textron’s Shadow or General Atomics’ Gray Eagle, a successor to the Predator. The Gray Eagle can carry two Hellfire missiles, so the Fury would provide the capability of launching two or three times as many attacks in a single drone flight.

Part of the appeal to the military of the Fury and other smaller precision munitions is the cost. A single Hellfire missile costs about $100,000, which can result in a very expensive weapon being used to attack an inexpensive target such as a pickup truck. While Textron hasn’t publicly announced the price of the Fury, the company describes the weapon as "cost-effective" and "affordable." Analysts expect the price to be only a fraction of that of the Hellfire, which should come as a relief to the both the bean counter at the Pentagon and soldiers in the field.

Ciro Scotti, a journalist, editor and media strategist, is a contributing editor to The Fiscal Times. Earlier, he was Deputy Editor, The Americas, at Reuters and Managing Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek.